Sherlock regenerates
by calac
Summary: Inspired by a gif of Sherlock regenerating before the fall, this is the story of what happened after.


Part 1

John kept on seeing the same face over and over again, and surprisingly it wasn't HIS. In the weeks after the incident, he had seen HIS face almost everywhere, sitting in a cafe drinking tea, in a crowded room, or on a deserted street corner. He had gotten used to seeing HIS face everywhere he looked, but he never saw HIM when he was at home, the flat was so quiet without HIM. All this time and John still couldn't bring himself to even say HIS name. After several months of this John began to see HIS face less and less, he wasn't forgetting HIM, he could never do that. But it was like the wound in his heart was scaring over; it would always be there, a constant reminder of how one man had such an impact on his life and how that same man was no longer there for him.

But now he was seeing a different face, a different man actually. John knew that he was real because on several occasions he had followed him and seen other people interacting with him. The reason why John was so interested in this man was because everything about him reminded him of HIM, the way he walked, the way he talked, even the little hand gestures that he did.

Part 2

He kept a close eye on John after the incident, he didn't like to be too far away and he quite liked watching John go about his daily business. He knew that John didn't recognize him, his body and face had changed right before the fall, it was what had saved him when he impacted with the concrete, the energy from the change kept him alive, if only barely. He had woken up a day later, in the morgue, a new man in every sense of the word. And he was glad of the change, it meant that he could go out in board daylight and no one would look twice at him, it meant that he could pass John in the street and not have to worry about being caught.

Although he was starting to notice the way John smiles whenever he sees him and he knew that John had followed him on more than one occasion. He was going to have to be more cautious in the future and follow John from a further distance.

Part 3

John was going crazy; it had been two weeks since the last sighting of the man. Two whole weeks and nothing, not even a glimpse. He was beginning to think that maybe it was all in his head after all. Maybe the man didn't really exist; maybe John was just projecting HIM onto another person. Whichever it was, John decided to not give up, to find this man, this very familiar stranger, because what else could he do with his life now that HE was gone.

Part 4

He could see how distraught John was becoming, everyday there were signs of depression, confusion and defeat all over him. Johns limp had come back and was getting worse by the day, his once straight, proud shoulders ere now permanently hunched, the effect of which made him seem even smaller. The rings around his eyes got darker and darker and his face became rouged and drawn, John had lost almost a stone in weight from not eating. He used to always make sure John had enough to eat, and now he couldn't do anything. All he could do was follow John every day as he went in search of him.

Part 5

John was aware someone was following him; he wasn't sure if it was that man, the one he desperately wanted to see or someone else. But he had to find out one way or the other, so it was time to use some of the tricks that HE had taught him. He took a left turn and another left, and then darted down an alleyway, it was the fasted he had moved in weeks. He followed the alleyway back in the direction he came from; he knew that whoever was following him would be in this network of dead ends and dark alleyways. And John was determined to find him.

Part 6

He was following John when he suddenly vanished from sight, John must have been paying attention when he showed him how to slip a tail and he was rather proud that John had actually managed to do it, and on him no less. This had no impact however on the fact that John would be coming to find him soon enough, so it was time for him to leave and quickly. He couldn't meet John, not face to face, not in a dark alleyway with no one else around. John knew him to well, he would be able to tell that it was him.

He turned to leave and went round the corner so quickly that he didn't see the person coming the other way, he bumped into them and was knocked back a few steps. He looked up and his eyes grew round as he saw who was standing in front of him. And try as he might to stop it, a whisper escaped his lips.

"John"

Part 7

John has tried almost all the alleyways and was beginning to lose hope of ever catching the person who had been following him. He tried another one and it turned out to be a dead end, he tried another and another, all the while he didn't see a single other person. Until he rounded a corner and someone came bursting into him, the force of the impact set him back a few steps, his leg started to ache again and his mouth began to form the words to curse his damn leg. But they died in his mouth as his eyes settled on the man who had ran into him. The man before him was the man who he had never, and yet he was the man who was so familiar to him. His hair was a dark blonde but that could have been because of the lighting, his cheek bones and chin where less defined but his face as still handsome. But it was his eyes that made John almost cry. They are so very familiar, the blatant intelligence that sparkled in the depths of the colour, the smug little glint that showed that he thought he was the cleverest one in the room twinkled where the light from the streetlamps reflected off them.

John crumpled when he heard the one word that whistled through this man's lips, he clasped onto the wet ground, crying, so happy that he had found HIM again, that he almost couldn't speak. Only one word could find its way past the lump in his throat and through the stream of tears he cried "Sherlock".

Part 8

He wasn't quite sure if John knew it was him when he had bumped into him, but the look in Johns eyes when he saw him and his reaction to the whisper of his name soon cast out any doubt that he didn't. There was no point in hiding it from John anymore, everything had been sorted out months ago, he could of comeback anytime he wanted but he had been scared of how John would react to his new form.

Now he could see that it didn't matter at all to John what he looked like, just that he was back. And as Sherlock bent down to help John to his feet, he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He was going home, to the place he loved, to be with the people he loved. And for the first time in this regeneration he was happy.


End file.
